AUPE President Guy Smith is calling for a fairer assessment of the public sector in light of today’s budget update.

“Minister Campbell spoke today of wanting to fix the fiscal foundation for future generations. We cannot afford to do that by harming the services Albertans count on. We cannot do that on the backs of frontline employees,” said Smith.

“Whether you look at Alberta Health Services, the Government, or post-secondary institutes, the frontline employees we represent are not responsible for the budget situation,” he said.

Average earnings for AUPE members across all publicly funded sectors is below the provincial average including the private sector, and the number of frontline Government employees hasn’t kept up with our population growth.

“Our members are modestly paid and struggling to provide quality services in a public sector that has fallen far behind population growth,” said Smith. “The government needs to stop targeting its employees for the province’s budget woes and start providing real solutions.”